The most important goal of search engine optimization (SEO) is obviously, rankings. Of late, digital marketers have been trying to downplay the importance of rankings in favor of more branded signals to Google’s search algorithms, in an attempt to conform to the search behemoth’s quality guidelines. However, your site’s rankings for your chosen keywords will […]

The most important goal of search engine optimization (SEO) is obviously, rankings. Of late, digital marketers have been trying to downplay the importance of rankings in favor of more branded signals to Google’s search algorithms, in an attempt to conform to the search behemoth’s quality guidelines.

However, your site’s rankings for your chosen keywords will always be important until search results are displayed in order of 1, 2, 3… No surprise then, that in-house SEO experts and agency marketers alike are always on the lookout for every little technical tweak that can take them one step closer to the elusive No. 1 position on Google.

SEO and digital marketing tool suite (the de-facto industry leader) has conducted one of the most in-depth studies ever into the ranking factors that take a website to the top of Google.

Their machine learning based analysis of 6 lakh search results from 10 crore real internet users searching across Google’s Indian, US, UK and other versions throws up some interesting facts on how they rank websites!

For a high-level analysis, read on.

Here’s a graphic that shows the 17 most crucial signals for ranking on Google:

Image Credits: https://www.semrush.com/ranking-factors/

There are some clear takeaways that emerge from the study…

Direct website traffic tops all other factors.

This is the single most significant finding of this study. Direct traffic is when the user comes to your website straight from the browser (by entering your URL in the address bar or clicking a bookmark) or a saved document (such as PDF), instead of clicking through from the search results or social media shares.

Numerous other studies on ranking factors have neglected to consider this critical factor, because of the possibility of correlation – i.e. Google ranks the best sites, but naturally, the best sites have more traffic.

However, the SEMrush study highlights Google’s increasing focus on the “brand authority” of a website. When direct traffic to a site increases, it is a strong indication that the brand is growing stronger. This means businesses need to redouble their PR efforts to build brand awareness and brand affinity for their products, inducing customers to proactively search for their brand terms

Eventually, Google will pick up on these “entity searches” and pass on the credit to your website.

User experience is paramount to success.

Google has repeatedly advised digital marketers to chase users instead of the algorithm. And they plainly mean it. Direct traffic is followed by three metrics closely related to user behavior on the ranking factors chart:

Time on site: The amount of time the average user spends on the site per visit

Pages per session: The number of pages viewed by a user per visit

Bounce rate: The ratio of visitors who leave your site after viewing a single page to those who stick around for more

Taken together, these three metrics tell Google whether or not users really find what they’re looking for on your website, and how engaging it is to your audience. In marketing parlance, they reveal the “relevance” of your content to the searcher’s “intent.”

These user-specific ranking factors underscore the value of your content. Google has time and again emphasized the importance of creating quality content through their webmaster guidelines and hangouts. If your site delivers what users are looking for, Google is sure to reward you for it.

Links do matter.

Backlinks are at the building blocks of Google’s original PageRank algorithm, which still forms the core of its ranking system. This is reflected in the fact that elements number 5 to 8 on the chart are link-specific metrics. The quantity and quality of backlinks, the variety of domains they come from as well as the spread of their IP addresses, all play a role in pushing up your rankings.

While Google discourages link building solely for SEO purposes, the fact remains that great content garners the maximum amount of links, along with closely relevant anchor text. This, in turn, plays a big role in enhancing brand authority, eventually bringing more referral as well as direct traffic (the biggie, remember?) to the website.

Ultimately, it’s important not to focus narrowly on any single aspect of link building, such as IPs or “followed” links. Marketers should focus on developing a diverse backlink profile, built on the back of multi-channel PR and content marketing.

You can start small with low-volume keywords, and eventually move on to targeting the more competitive ones, as your content base increases and your existing links start to bring in traffic.

Google is on a mission to make the web safer with HTTPS.

Google is going all out to persuade webmasters across the world to move to HTTPS in their quest to make the web a secure place. HTTPS maintains the integrity of your website data, prevents intruders from tapping into your communication with users, and protects their privacy.

Google is doing everything it can to coax website owners into adopting HTTPS – and they’ve found a simple, but effective way: ranking HTTPS sites above their HTTP counterparts, all else being equal.

If you’re still biding your time, the time to make the switch has come. The higher the volume of keywords you’re targeting and the bigger your website, the more important HTTPS adoption becomes. Without a secure site, you’ll soon be relegated to the sidelines and watch your rivals pass you by.

Keywords are losing their shine.

SEO practitioners have been terribly obsessed with keywords for a long, long time. This has frequently led them to cross the line into spamming, by stuffing HTML tags and content with keywords, giving the SEO industry a bad name and lessening its importance.

Also, read:

With updates like Hummingbird and RankBrain, Google has got its act together when it comes to semantics and understanding content. Peppering your headlines, copy and meta tags with keywords will no longer give you even a slight advantage.

SEMrush found that more than 35% of sites that ranked for high-volume keywords didn’t even have the keyword in the title. Talk about meeting users’ intent by speaking their language!

Over to You

SEO forms the core of your digital marketing efforts. When it comes to building an effective SEO strategy that works for your business, every little bit helps. Engaging content, brand authority, links from the right places and a secure website, all play their part. Analyzing Google’s algorithm is a complex and demanding process, and it pays to stay updated on the factors that influence rankings. Good luck!

Google announced today that it will be making the new Google Search Console available to everyone in the coming weeks. Specifically, verified users in Google Search Console will be able to access the new Search Performance, Index Coverage, AMP status and Job posting reports. Google said the new Search Console reports provide “more transparency into […]

Google announced today that it will be making the new Google Search Console available to everyone in the coming weeks. Specifically, verified users in Google Search Console will be able to access the new Search Performance, Index Coverage, AMP status and Job posting reports.

Google said the new Search Console reports provide “more transparency into Google’s indexing, stateful two-way communications between Google and website owners to help resolve issues faster, and a responsive user-interface.”

Search Engine Land was the first to break the news around the beta Search Console features back in July. Google then shared additional details about this beta. With this launch, the search performance report will have a year-plus of data, which has long been a priority request from the industry.

Both versions of Search Console will continue to be live for all users and can be used side by side. Google said it will continue to add classic Search Console features into the new Search Console, so until that process is complete, webmasters will be able to access both versions via a link in the navigation bar.

Also noteworthy in the new Search Console is the ability to share critical issues that surface in (most) reports with multiple team members in an organization, to more efficiently distribute the information and have problems addressed more expediently. Revoking access is likewise easy and intuitive. More on this below.

Search Performance report:

Google’s new Search Performance report is similar to the Search Analytics report, but it gives 16 months of data. The report lets you see clicks, impressions, CTR and average position. It also lets you filter by web, image or video search results and segment by query, page, country or device type. Google indicates this data will also soon be available via the Search Console API.

Index Coverage report:

The Index Coverage report is similar to the Index Status report: It shows webmasters how well Google is indexing their site. It lists properly indexed URLs and gives warnings about indexing issues — along with explanations for why Google is not indexing some URLs. The report shows changes over time and improvements to site indexing over that time frame. Clicking on any error URL will bring up links to diagnostics tools, as well as a way to resubmit the URL for indexing. The data can also be exported for deeper analysis. Google notes that this report “works best for sites that submit sitemap files.”

Index Coverage report

From the Google announcement (Note the item numbers correspond to the items in the image above):

When you drill down into a specific issue, you will see a sample of URLs from your site. Clicking on error URLs brings up the page details with links to diagnostic tools that help you understand what is the source of the problem.

Fixing Search issues often involves multiple teams within a company. Giving the right people access to information about the current status, or about issues that have come up there, is critical to improving an implementation quickly. Now, within most reports in the new Search Console, you can do that with the share button on top of the report which will create a shareable link to the report. Once things are resolved, you can disable sharing just as easily.

The new Search Console can also help you confirm that you’ve resolved an issue, and help us to update our index accordingly. To do this, select a flagged issue, and click validate fix. Google will then crawl and reprocess the affected URLs with a higher priority, helping your site to get back on track faster than ever.

The Index Coverage report works best for sites that submit sitemap files. Sitemap files are a great way to let search engines know about new and updated URLs. Once you’ve submitted a sitemap file, you can now use the sitemap filter over the Index Coverage data, so that you’re able to focus on an exact list of URLs.

AMP status report:

The AMP status report gives errors and warnings around your AMP URLs. It shows which URLs have issues, gives a diagnosis of the issue itself and lets you fix the issue and then test to make sure the AMP URL is now valid. Google said that “you can request that Search Console validates the fix across multiple pages.” Once the issue is fixed, Google said it will “crawl and reprocess the affected URLs with a higher priority.” In addition, the AMP reports can be shared with external teams.

Job Posting report:

Those who post job listings on their websites can now check out the new Job Posting report. This report will show statistics around your job listing results, any indexing issues and a way to resolve those issues.

Even though we are looking into the future, systems and algorithms such as Google RankBrain and Fred, it still sometimes necessary to look back in the past and check Google algorithms that preceded and has a big impact on our rankings. Google Penguin, launched in 2012, is one of algorithms that severely changed the landscape of SEO and still affects […]

Even though we are looking into the future, systems and algorithms such as Google RankBrain and Fred, it still sometimes necessary to look back in the past and check Google algorithms that preceded and has a big impact on our rankings.

Google Penguin, launched in 2012, is one of algorithms that severely changed the landscape of SEO and still affects us.

In fact, the news for the latest update came in October 2016 making it very relevant and up-to-date. It’s also a part of the core algorithm and is happening in real time now.

What is Google Penguin?

How many times has a website owner approached you saying: “I think I have a Google penalty”?

For a while, “SEO penalty removal” was a query that everyone was typing. During this time numerous sites that were regarded as industry leaders took a nosedive. Together with Panda update, it became bane of internet companies.

Google Penguin penalties became commonplace and webmasters quickly found themselves in a bad spot.

So what was the big deal with this algorithm?

It was created as a response to spammy link building and spammy usage of anchor texts.

Basically, this algorithm was able to detect link spam patterns and penalize websites. It would collect data and devalue backlinks and the owner would have to remove these low quality links.

Penalty was both manual and algorithmic.

Penguin algorithm was very restrictive and it was common for a blog to lose majority of its traffic overnight due to a Penguin penalty.

Why is Google’s Penguin still important?

Although Google has switched to some other systems and is trying to work on machine learning and use user engagement stats as ranking factors, links are still the main factor behind Google rankings.

This means that quality links are as necessary as they always were and even though some time has passed since the latest update, you can still get hit if you implement a spammy strategy.

I always advise my clients to check every link they get and avoid anything fishy. Best way to approach link building is to start from the top: create quality content and start pitching people for backlinks. This is the best way to have a healthy link profile with a proper distribution.

Links will always remain an important ranking factor given how reluctant people are to link to you. If someone gives you a vote of trust in a form of a link this means that your page truly rocks.

Other systems are much easier to be manipulated. This is why you will always have to remain mindful of links you’re getting.

How to know whether you’ve been hit by an SEO penalty?

First indication that you’ve been hit by Penguin is to experience a significant drop in traffic.

How to notice this?

By checking your Google Analytics.

If the traffic drop occurred at the same or similar time when update rolled out, it is safe to presume that you’ve been hit by the latest Google Penguin update.

Best way to recover from a Penguin penalty is by analyzing your anchors and links and removing/changing the shady ones.

When it comes to anchor text, over-spamming one and the same phrase can be a clear indication to Google that you’ve been forcefully building links. Once again, solution is to get those links removed.

Before I start explaining step-by-step process, I need to emphasize that the best solution is to hire a Penguin penalty recovery agency.

Fees are usually not that high for amount of job that an SEO expert is willing to do. You can also rest assured after intervention that there are no toxic links plaguing your site.

How to detect precise Google Penguin issues?

As you can presume, it is necessary to start with a thorough analysis.

First, you need to detect precise keywords and then links that are posing a problem.

There are a lot of tools on that market which can help you out with that. Penguin penalty checker is one of them. There are also a lot of guides on the web that explain how to find unnatural links with CognitivesSeo tool.

Anyway, given that Google Penguin is with us for some time, the market has already developed programs that can help any webmaster with their quest.

Ultimately, if nothing else works, you can do analysis with Google Analytics. Here, you can see rankings for different terms and how they changed. Any changes (think drops) should be attributed to a manual penalty.

An important note here is that if you’re being hit by a manual Penguin penalty you will receive a message in Google Webmaster Tools which informs you about the issue. In this case you’ll have to submit a reconsideration request after you have cleaned your link profile.

Have in mind that you shouldn’t be preoccupied with all traffic. You should only focus on keywords that have been built in an unnatural way.

Which links are bad and which ones are good?

Here is what most website owners get wrong.

Penguin penalty removal shouldn’t include all backlinks pointing to a page. Instead, you need to remove links from low quality websites and websites that are notorious for malpractice.

Best tool you can use for this?

AhRefs.

By far, AhRefs is the best tool for detecting backlinks. It is much quicker than some other programs such as SEMRush or Moz.

Retrieve a list of all the links that are connected to a particular keyword. Now, you need to go step by step and analyze all the websites from which you’ve gotten a link.

How to know whether a link can pose a problem?

Website authority

If you’ve build links normally, it is to be expected that you will get a lot of links from low tier websites. However, it becomes a problem if you only have links from small websites and none whatsoever from medium and top-tier ones. This is a clear indication of abuse. In order to regulate things you should remove weak ones as soon as possible. Best way to do it is by checking website stats such as domain authority, LRT and other relevant metrics.

Lots of irrelevant topics on a website

There are still a lot of websites that accept payment for linking out. This is a part of their online marketing strategy. These websites have lots of different stuff posted on them most of which have no connection to their primary business/topic. If you’ve received a link from a website that writes about lots of different topics or is not from your own industry, it can be a red flag for Google.

Public malpractice

Some of these websites do not even hide they’re involved in link schemes. They will have section for guest posts or paid posts. Anyway, they will have sentences stating that website is allowing payment for links. Steer clear from such domains.

How to remove unnatural links?

Here’s the thing that will eat away most of your time.

In order to remove backlinks, it is necessary to contact website that has linked to you in the first place. Sometimes this can pose a problem as penalties are not always caused by webmaster’s malpractice or lack of morale. Sometimes they are a result of a negative SEO campaign.

So how to remove this backlink?

Contact website owner.

Like any other pitch on the Internet, it is necessary to be polite and forthcoming. Give that you’re the one asking for a service, you will have to behave properly. Otherwise, the whole situation can get complicated and you will have to ask for third party’s assistance in order to remove troublesome backlink.

Luckily for website owners, rules have changed a bit in 2017.

Nowadays it is more or less enough for you to disavow a link without having to remove it.

This reduces work you have to do.

How to prevent future Penguin problems?

When it comes to Penguin link removal, most people focus on the issue at hand. Although this is a good approach and necessary in order to continue with your work it is far more important to look ahead.

Search engine is being more and more proactive in punishing people who are doing anything against Google rules and privacy policy. This means you shouldn’t put yourself in a situation where you need to repair anything.

As a Google penalty expert this is what I would recommend:

Avoid link schemes

Google becomes smarter by the day. It will be much easier for this search engine to notice malpractice in future and it is only matter of time when even things such as guest posts will become a liability. Change your link building methods and stay away from link schemes.

When doing email outreach make sure to pitch the big sites

There is no reason for you to build crappy links. Blog owners usually think that by paying lots and lots of money they can boost their link profile by publishing sponsored posts on small websites. This is wrong! In fact, when it comes to links, best links are free ones. Authoritative websites don’t need your financial support as they already have a different source of income. Focus on getting links from big websites. Small websites usually follow the big ones and are inclined to link to them and their resources (your website) without you even asking. At the end of the day you will have a diversified link profile without paying a dime.

Check your links regularly

Best thing you can do to prevent buildup of bad links is to regularly check your link profile with a tool such as AhRefs. As soon as something fishy appears, make sure to remove it. This doesn’t only prevent Google penalty but it also prevents occasional drops in traffic.

Perform manual link building

Some websites outsource SEO to unreliable companies without a good track record. These companies start building bad links leading to penalization of the website. Make sure to do link building yourself or hire an SEO agency you can trust.

My last Google penalty advice is: be conservative.

When something looks too good to be true it usually is. Good link profile is a product of hard work. Without it, you cannot get the wanted results.

That doesn’t mean you should frantically remove links pointing to your website. Just be mindful of ones that you’re getting.

If you are uncertain about building backlinks to your own site, contact me and I’d be happy to create a custom SEO plan for your business. My company has a vast experience when it comes to revoking Penguin penalties.

Conclusion

As someone that was providing SEO penalty removal services during the worst period of Google Penguin, I can tell you that bad link removal is something you should do even if you’re not penalized.

Real-time Penguin is here to stay and there is no real reason to risk your business by building crappy, toxic links.

Make sure to base your business on real values, real content and real links. Have in mind that this is something that multiplies and proper behavior and sound practices will get you far.

What is your experience with Penguin penalty removal? Are you paying close attention to your link profile? Share your experience below or drop me a message on some of my social media profiles.

Google is on track to make more than $70bn in revenue in 2016, and the lion’s share of that number will be generated by its insanely successful advertising business. As I’m sure you know, advertisers pay a fee every time somebody clicks on a link in one of their ads. Some of the costs per click being paid are absolutely staggering, […]

Google is on track to make more than $70bn in revenue in 2016, and the lion’s share of that number will be generated by its insanely successful advertising business.

As I’m sure you know, advertisers pay a fee every time somebody clicks on a link in one of their ads. Some of the costs per click being paid are absolutely staggering, though they must be worth it, from the advertiser’s perspective.

Last month I analysed a large chunk of Google Adwords data from SEMrush to discover the most expensive keywords in the UK. Today, I’m releasing the same research for the US. The old adage suggests that everything is bigger in the States, and that certainly seems to apply to advertising expenditure.

So, here are the top 100 terms, based on a massive dataset of 80m keywords…

As you can see, the legal sector dominates, with the most expensive term closing in on a truly incredible $1,000 per click. It sounds insane, but consider that the average mesothelioma settlement is in excess of $1m and it starts to make a lot of sense. Legal terms account for 78% of the top 100, and nine of the top 10.

Water damage is another big ticket item, with clicks costing more than $250 for the top terms. Repair costs and associated claims for water damage into the tens of thousands, so again, it figures.

The other sectors that need to spend big to make an impression include Finance (largely focused on insurance), B2B (typically around the provision of business telephony) and Health (the top terms being linked to rehab).

One of the most obvious difference between the UK and US research is the total absence of any terms related to gambling in the latter country, where it remains illegal to gamble online. Gambling terms account for 77% of the UK’s top 100 terms, with the most expensive cost per click coming in at around $220.

The other thing is the lack of typos. In the UK advertisers are quite happy to seek out people who cannot spell, something that makes the eyes narrow when those terms are linked to gambling.

Sector by sector

Here’s a sector-specific breakdown of the top five most expensive terms in the US. Note that I’ve adjusted the scale for each one, such is the variance in click costs between industries.

You can share these charts individually, should you wish to do so.

As Google continues to turn the screw towards a fully fledged pay-to-play model my bet is that we’ll see even more keyword inflation over the next few years, though ultimately there may be a point at which things start to plateau.

What do you think? Are you surprised by the amount being spent by advertisers? Do leave a comment below…